Tuesday, 9 January 2018

2018 Australian Championship - Day 7

Back from the rest day, the 7th round of the 2018 Australian Championship saw the players engage in some very hard fought games. GM Max Illingworth maintained his half point lead, drawing with GM Moulthun Ly on the board 1 clash. On board 2 GM Anton Smirnov and IM Bobby Cheng played a very exciting game, where at one point Cheng looked to have overpressed, before reaching a position where Smirnov had to very careful in his choice of moves. A draw just after the first time control was the eventual outcome.
IM Ari Dale moved into outright third with a win over IM Andrew Brown. Dale, who had a poor run of form befoe Christmas, has bounced back in this event, and is edging closer to a possible GM level result (2600 performance rating). He is playing GM Moulthun Ly in round 8 and a win (or possibly a draw) would keep these chances alive.
Today's eighth round sees Illingworth against Cheng, Smirnov against IM Kanan Izzat, and Dale against Ly. The action begins at 1pm Sydney time (on site), with the delayed broadcast starting at 1:30pm